Texas law enforcement officials said on Tuesday the gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area shopping mall harbored "neo-Nazi ideation" but appeared to have singled out his victims randomly and without regard for race, age or sex.
The gunman, identified as Mauricio Garcia, 33, opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle on Saturday at the crowded Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas. The mass shooting ended several minutes later when police fatally shot the suspect.
The eight people slain in the attack included three children - two young sisters as well as a 3-year-old boy from a different family whose parents were also among those slain. In addition, 10 other people, ages 5 to 61, were wounded.
Investigators recovered eight firearms, including the murder weapon, from the gunman's possession and his vehicle, and all of the weapons had been legally purchased, said Hank Sibley, a regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
"The big question we're dealing with now is: what's his motive? Why did he do this? We don't know," Sibley told an afternoon press conference.
Sibley said authorities have determined from a review of the gunman's social media profile, clothing patches and tattoos that Garcia "had neo-Nazi ideation," but added that it was too soon in the investigation to say whether the shooting could be considered an act of domestic terrorism.
Sibley also said Garcia had once served in the U.S. military, that he suffered from some unspecified mental illness and that he had also worked some time ago in the private security business.
